Is Polygamy Really African? The Real Tradition

Listen Siblings,

“Judge by cause, not effect.” — KMT Proverb

Knobeco, myself and a talkative forty-year-old from Mali stood on the corner of a Bronx street.

I had known the man from past encounters though this time his wife was not with him. He was railing against “American media” and its absence of critiques on Western Exploitation in Africa. Not entirely interested, I discerned a pregnant woman in a blue and yellow dress walking with enough cheap groceries to feed three families.

“One moment,” I held up my hand, excusing myself.

The Malian placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Let the bitch walk.”

I shook him off and reaching her offered Knobeco’s and my assistance. The woman had very soft features and a very small frame, she looked between twenty and twenty-five, but she declined the assistance in a freshly foreign accent. I noticed that she reached her decision by looking at the Malian.

It was revealed, after further prying, that she was his third-wife, accepting of this polygamy and abuse in the name of Islam. Like other Africans, though recognizing her Muslim practice, she conceived polygamy as African. The truth is that it isn’t.

What’s sad about this ignorance is how common it is even in Africa. What’s more, the ignorance has less to do with Europeans and more to do with Asians, the first corrupters of African Psychology.

Even Africa is behind on the times. Even Africa is ignorant on the traditions of Africa. This is the generation in which we live. We build African Blood Siblings Community Centers to educate on African Psychology, among other necessary fields. Your writing the ABS can make the difference between an African culture going extinct or going mainstream. Today over 90% of Africa is either Muslim or Christiain and more than 99% of African people wrongly believe that Polygamy is African. Think on that. Subscribe, share, love.

Is Polygamy Really African?  The Real Tradition
By Onitaset Kumat

Is Polygamy really African? No. The world has over 99% of African people believing that their ancestors were polygamous for eons on end, but the reality is otherwise. Wikipedia, one of the worst websites ever, where uninformed people divvy information under the guise of being informed, deceives readers into believing Polygamy is a universal experience in Africa. Young people on the continent adhere to this belief. Many Africans today suffer from this anti-traditional practice. The question is–how do we know that Polygamy is not African? The answer is “The Cultural Unity of Black Africa” by Cheikh Anta Diop (pronounced “Jop”).

In this excerpt from Page 114 of “The Cultural Unity of Black Africa,” focus on the bold parts,

“[B]ut monogamy was the rule at the level of the mass of the people, particularly in Africa. In so far as Africa is considered to be the land of polygamy, it is important to emphasize this fact. In sculptural and pictorial representations, the monogamy of the people is proved by the numerous couples depicted.

“It seems that this was so in all Africa during the late Middle Ages, until the tenth century, which marks the extension of Islam to the native populations, through the Almoravidians. Polygamy tended in this way to become general, without ever ceasing to be a sign of social rank. Thus, it is not rare to see members of the lower classes who, seeking to deceive themselves about their own social rank, marry several wives.

“It is to these notes about polygamy that it is proper to connect the study of what has been called the ill-treatment of African women. Once again, it is the matriarchal conception which will enlighten us in an intelligible fashion regarding the facts. It implies, indeed, a relatively rigid dualism in the daily life of each sex.  The socially admitted division of labour reserves to the man the tasks involving risks, power, force, and endurance; if, as a result of a changed situation due to the intervention of some outside factor – cessation of a state of war, etc . . . the tasks of a man came to be whittled down, so much the worse for the woman; she would nonetheless continue to carry out the household duties and others reserved to her by society. For the man could not relieve her of this without losing prestige in the eyes of all. It is in fact unthinkable, for example, than an African should share a feminine task with his wife, such as cooking or washing clothes or rearing children, any European influence, of course, being disregarded. The dimunition of the tasks of the man comes from the suppression of national sovereignties which causes the disappearing of a large fraction of the tasks of responsibility. This dimunition can also be seasonal, as a function of cultivation and the harvests; in tropical countries, at two seasons of the year, during the long dry period, involuntary unemployment is frequent among men, whom the feeble economic activity of the country is unable to occupy. In the fields it is the husband who digs the land and the wife who sows. At the time of harvest, it is the husband who uproots the peanuts, for example, and the wife who gathers them. In reality, rural preoccupations are far from being so rigid, and it is not rare to find a woman doing certain tasks which are not very arduous, such as cultivating the soil. But it can certainly be confirmed that the position of the man in this work is superior to that of his wife. Most often she prepares the food and brings it to the fields, while her husband works. The European travellers who crossed Africa like meteors often brought back piteous, striking descriptions of the fate of these poor women, who were made to work by their husbands, while the latter rested in the shade. In contrast, the Europeans who have visited Africa and stayed there for a greater or lesser period of time, are not sorry for the African women: they find them very happy.

“Moreover this situation has been unchanged since ancient times: the couples to be seen on the African monuments of Egypt are united by a tenderness, a friendship, an intimate common life–the likes of which is not to be found in the Eurasian world of this period: Greece, Rome, Asia. This fact, in itself, would tend to prove that Ancient Egypt was not Semitic: in the Semitic tradition, the history of the world begins with the fall of man, his ruin being caused by a woman (the myth of Adam and Eve). In ancient Egypt and the remainder of Black Africa, in every age — except for some slight Arab influence — the isolation of women under the supervision of eunuchs, a practice so typically Eurasian, is absolutely unknown.”

Some of this text teaches you about traditional gender roles, but the bold informs you very clearly that polygamy is not an African custom. So, when Wikipedia reads:

Polygamy existed all over Africa as an aspect of culture or/and religion. Plural marriages have been more common than not in the history of Africa. . . . It was only during the colonial era that plural marriage was perceived as taboo. . . . Polygamy is very common in West Africa. However, the diffusion of Islam to this region has decreased the prevalence of polygamy in this region, due to restrictions on number of wives.[77][78]

Beyond the ‘commonality,’ it is 100% false, fitting the old adage, “How do you know when a White man is lying? (Pause) If his mouth is moving.”

More, it’s shown that the young African woman who writes,

Polygamy in Africa is a cultural practice that has been deeply rooted in the African Tradition for eons. . . .
Polygamy in Africa has been a cultural and/or a traditional practice for a very long time. Although some cultures, due to a level of westernization of religion will only look at it as old relic and outdated practice, it is still highly practiced in some societies and cultures.”

Is confused on our culture as well.

The New York Times contributes to this lie. When confronted with Islamic abuses on women, like genital cutting and domestic violence, the New York Times squeezes in this,

Islam is often cited as the authority that allows polygamy. But in Africa, the practice is a cultural tradition that crosses religious lines, while some Muslim lands elsewhere sharply restrict it.

The great irony of this whole debate is that not only is Monogamy African, but Monogamy is strictly African. The Asians, we know, practice Polygyny, and a cursory study of European societies will inform you that the European actually practices Polyandry. Anyone acquainted with “White” women know that they have many multiples of sexual partners; in modern times there are prostitutes, porn stars, cuckolding, “mandingo parties,” orgies, “rent-a-rasta,” swinging and a bevvy of other non-monogamous practices which go back to their ancient times. Less common today, though ancient and assuredly theirs, is their practice of brothers sharing wives to assure their lineage continues.

This means that the “Christian” “White” woman oppresses herself by resisting affairs just as some Radical Feminists would rightly attest. This also means that the Muslim African oppresses himself or herself by engaging in Polygamy. Everyone’s aim is to go according to their respective nature. Monogamy and Complementarity is our African nature and our marker on World Civilization. Let the debate end. Is Polygamy really African? No, but Monogamy is.